Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/28/25

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss which Canucks can be play drivers besides Quinn Hughes, plus they discuss the latest hockey news with NHL insider Frank Seravalli.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na It's topping for three. Goal! That'll do it. McDavid, left circle Nugent, Hopkins tracks in front. Tantone, Corey Perry, power play goal. Edmonton, one game away from the Stanley Cup final for a second here in a row. This is my nightmare! Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. Good morning Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Wednesday! Happy Wednesday everybody, it's Halford at his brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning! Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net health, with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you and Step. We got a big show ahead on a Wednesday guest list. Today begins at 6.30. Gonna talk a little Blue Jays with Rob Longley, baseball writer and columnist at the Toronto Sun. Jason's got his Toronto Blue Jays mug.

Oh, things are blue, I'll tell ya. It's obviously to celebrate the fact that the Jays have lost four or five after sweeping the Padres I couldn't find my regular mug Those losses also include two shutouts. That's a shutout mug everybody those of you watching on the stream Including last night's to nothing lost to the Rangers. We'll talk about Toronto's offensive ineptitude That's fun at 630 this morning with Rob. He'll be joining the program 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley from daily face-off with Rob. He'll be joining the program. Seven o'clock Frank Sarah Valley from Daily Faceoff will be joining the show. Frank's top 20 trade board. It dropped yesterday to caducks in

the top 20. That's your demkos on it. Alias Patterson's on it as well. Topping the list at number one is Buffalo's JJ Paterka. So we can talk to Frank about all that other news and notes from around the national hockey league with our NHL insider from daily face off. That's at seven o'clock, uh, seven 45 today. We're going to go, uh, talk a little NBA host and producer for the athletics NBA show and the Oklahoma city podcast down to dunk. Andrew Schlecht is going to join the program tonight at five 30 our time, the thunder and Shay Gilders, Alexander are looking to book their spot in the NBA finals.

It would be their first trip back to the final since 2012. And that was the famous big three team that featured Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. So we'll talk to Andrew Schlecht about all things thunder. Shay Gilders, Alexander that's coming up at seven 45 today at eight o'clock. Greg was Shinsky is going to join the program. Our NHL insider from ESPN, the oilers beat the stars for one last night to take a three one series lead in the Western conference final. Speaking of three one leads,

that's the lead Florida has over Carolina in the Eastern conference final with game five going tonight in Raleigh. A reminder, you can hear that game five of the Eastern Conference final right here on Sportsnet 650 after Connuck Central was sat and Dan this evening. Uh, before we get moving along here, I need to tell you about the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 50 50. It is now live. You could win half the jackpot and the other half supports challenger baseball, a program that helps kids of all abilities across BC thrive through sport. Tickets started just $10 with bundles for even more chances to win.

Don't wait. You can get your tickets now. Listen closely. Jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus.com. Now, if that was too confusing, we're making it even easier on you. All you have to do, this is not a scam, text the word money, yes money, to 650-650 right now and we will send you the link so that you can buy 50-50 tickets, that's it. And then send a dog your credit card information. Right, and your social insurance number.

You must be 19 years or older and live in BC to play, let's make a big impact together. Again, text money to 650. 650. Okay, that's everything that's happening on the program today. I've already said too much. Without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened that? You missed that?

What happened? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We got one step closer to a Stanley Cup rematch last night. Leon Dreisaitl and the ageless wonder, Corey Perry,

each had a goal and an assist. And the Oilers pushed the Stars to the brink of elimination at 4-1 winning game four of the Western Conference Finals. So we are now one win away each from an Edmonton, Florida rematch in the Stanley Cup Final. So I'm telling you, it's concerning when the Oilers play like they did in the second and third period yesterday. I thought the Stars came out pretty well,

had some opportunities, couldn't finish or Stewart Skinner made some nice saves, but you know, it was once the Oilers got that 2-1 lead, which was right after the Stars had finally scored a goal and it was a nice goal by Jason Robertson on the power play. The Oilers after that, they locked it down, man. And we've been seeing this Oilers team lock it down. It's scary. And that's something that, God, I don't know,

they did it at times last year for sure. Remember how good their PK was? Sure. Them being able to just totally keep the stars to the outside. It was funny. I know that the stars got some shots on goal last night and that's been tough for the Canucks at

times and I know that Skinner did play well in got some shots on goal last night and that was, that's been tough for the Canucks at times. And I know that Skinner did play well in net, but we know as Canucks fans, what it looks like when you can't get to the middle of the ice with possession of the puck. The puck is constantly on the perimeter and it feels like time and space in the slot with the puck is something that other teams do.

You know, it's just, the Oilers are playing well defensively and it kind of brings into the debate of like, does defense win championship or is it offense? I mean, the answer is you need both. You need both, but I think oftentimes it starts with playing well defensively as a team. Chris Knoblach, the coach, not the guy who looks like the coach, although that was incredible. Pretty good.

Was saying afterwards, he's like, yeah, it's great when you're not just waiting for two guys to make big plays for you. Once again, it wasn't McDavid or Dry Seidel that, you know, was the offense for the others. It was like Ryan Nugent Hopkins again. Like, so the others, they've got McDavid and Dry Seidel playing well for them. Uh, Stuart Skinner is playing well for them.

Uh, they got other guys stepping up like Ryan Nugent Hopkins, and they're playing a great team game. The only thing they've got to worry about right now, well, there's two things. Number one, if they meet Florida in the finals, that's a good team. Yes. And number two, Hyman's hurt. Yeah. So he, okay, let's, uh, we'll focus on that real quick.

So Hyman sustained an undisclosed injury for the Oilers last night. He left at nine 17 of the first period. Uh, he took a hit from Mason Marchman, looked like his right shoulder, left the game, did not return, but all that did was pave the way for Corey Perry to step up and have this massive game. He replaced Simon on the top line, played a total of 16, 51, so nearly 17 minutes for a 40 year old guy scores the game winning goal, has an assist on dry, subtle, subtle goal, tremendous effort from Corey Perry.

As I mentioned earlier, the ageless wonder what Edmonton is doing at five on five, I think is the important thing here. When you talk about defense wins championships, there's a pretty easy pathway for all of these cliches, right? So one is you got to win at five on five. And the other one is that your power play, you can't rely on it in the postseason because you just don't get as many opportunities as you do during the regular season.

The power play in this series, outside of that burst that Dallas had in game one in the third period, when they scored the three power play goals, the special teams in this series have kind of been a non-factor. This has been about Edmonton choking the life out of Dallas at evens.

Dallas has two goals over the last three games. And this is with getting a decent amount of shots at times. But if you look what Dallas did in the first period yesterday, where they got a bunch of shots on Skinner and didn't score, they weren't able to replicate that first period success. They had four shots in the third period yesterday. Four shots in a game they were trailing

going into the third period. They just couldn't get anything going. So what do you, what do you think it is? Do you think the oilers are just playing really well or do you think the stars don't have the horses that maybe we thought they did? Okay. So this is an interesting conversation because, um, if you look at Dallas during the regular season, they had good offensive output in terms of collective team numbers. And then you look at their team and they're like,

yeah, they had three 30 goal scorers, right? Duchenne scored 30, Wyatt Johnson scored 30, Jason Robertson scored 30. They've got good depth at forward. You like everything that they bring. We didn't even mention in that conversation, Rope Hints, and we didn't even mention the guy that picked up at the trade deadline in Miko Ranen.

So you love the depth of forward. But when it comes time to these moments where you need something special out of a guy, it feels like everyone on that team is waiting for Rantan. It feels like everyone else is just sort of a guy out there, like not pushing, not dictating, and it's very concerning because on the Edmonton side of things, you've got all these different individual players.

And we're not gonna talk about right now, McDavid and Dreisaitl, like you mentioned. Ryan Eugene Hopkins has been fantastic in this series, making plays left and right. Zach Hyman has been, and here's the interesting thing about Hyman, he made a physical imprint on this series when maybe the puck wasn't necessarily going in the net, and then it started going in the net.

I've already mentioned Corey Perry. They've had different guys step up and just sort of take the moments and make something happen. Being in a one-on-one situation or making something out of nothing, whereas Dallas, I mean, who's doing that right now? There's not a single guy that you can point to that's saying, wow, that guy's a real difference maker out there.

I mean, I noticed Rantanen on the ice, but he's not scoring like he was at times. And he had a bunch of big games, obviously in the playoffs, but you're right. They look like just a bunch of guys. You're kind of like, all right, who stands out here? So when people say defense wins championships, I don't necessarily disagree.

I think that's where it always has to start, but great players can break down great defenses, like Dallas is good defensively. That's what McDavid does with his speed and vision. The best Canuck at penetrating the middle of the ice while keeping possession with the puck, and that's important because anyone can just skate to the middle of the ice, is when you have the puck. You got to get the puck to the middle of the ice. I can go to the middle of the ice.

I mean, the best Canuck is Quinn Hughes. After Hughes, I'm not sure who's second. Who's making things happen out there? We've gone over this before. Yeah, Garland's not bad at it. He's a distant second to Quinn Hughes. And the issue with Garland is he doesn't have a great shot. De Brusk is good in front of the net.

He's got really good, he's got amazing hands. But he's not the one making things happen out there. And I think with the Oilers, with McDavid and Dreisel and maybe even Nudge, like you've got guys that, they can make things happen. And it's just such a, I mean, it's such a elementary way to look at things, but sometimes you just need the individual brilliance.

And right now I think the Stars are waiting for that individual brilliance. They got a nice shot from Jason Robertson and you could see after he scored that goal, the celebration, the relief. But that was on the power play. So the Stars did well to get him open and then I think there were, the oilers got caught a little bit overloaded on one side and Robertson comes out into the middle of the ice.

He actually has time and space and he rips a perfect shot past Stuart Skinner. That's their only goal. Otherwise it looked impossible. And you know, this is going to be, when we're talking about teams like the Oilers and teams like the Florida Panthers, which is what the Canucks aspire to be coming, and you go back to other Canucks teams that were good. I mean, they're very good defensively, but they also have the game breakers up front.

And so the challenge is going to be for both the coaching staff on the Canucks and the management to go out and find those players. But like the coaching staff, my hope, and we were talking about this yesterday, cause they needed to bring in some more staff for Adam Foote. Sure. My hope is they bring in someone who has some new ideas. Because it's not like the Canucks, here's the thing, it's not like the Canucks under Rick Tocket could never gain possession of the puck

in the offensive zone. They actually set up quite often with the puck. A lot of the time they would dump it in, God forbid, they would dump it in, but they would gain possession of it. They just couldn't do anything with it once they got it. And that's why the whole thing of, oh, back to the point again, came up.

It's not like they were, again, it's not like they didn't have the puck, it's like they were trapped on the outside. Like they were trying to break into a house with no windows or doors, which is hard to do. So many times they just settled for the point shot or hope for a tip and a rebound. I felt like that that's what the stars were doing at the end of it. They were like, okay, it's on the outside. They were big time. You know,

like I don't know what to do here. And then, and then we would get into the never ending argument about whose fault it is. Some people would say the coach, some people will say the players. Um, I don't know. Some people would blame us, but you know, it's also going to be the big challenge for management to find players that can create scoring chances either off the rush or in the zone at five on five or on the power play. And we can go on and on about how they had one of those players in JT Miller,

but he's gone now and he's not coming back. Um, We can go on and on about how they had one of those players in JT Miller. They had one in JT Miller. He's gone now and he's not coming back. I enjoy the phrase, the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to hockey. Not everyone has to be a straw. You can be a valuable player even if you're not a straw. And I think Brock Besser was one of those, or is one of those. And when he was playing well, he had a straw on his line.

And that was JT Miller. But right now the Canucks have what? One straw, one straw stirring the drink out there. Singular straw. And the good thing is that he can play 28 minutes a night. But the bad thing is, is that there are no forwards. That, you know, like we're talking elite straws. Yeah is, is that there are no forwards.

That, you know, like we're talking elite straws. Yeah, Reggie Jackson type straws. There's no elite straws, and they're gonna need some more straws. I mean, the interesting thing with the Kinox is like, this is a stretch a little bit, but. Phoenix, Phoenix decks in, too many ice cubes out there. Yeah, they're melting the plastic straw, paper straw.

Just, they're withering it away. The interesting thing with the Kinox, and I know this is a bit of a stretch, but Philip Heidel is not a straw, but he has straw characteristics. Like the style that he wants to play, there is that element of Driving yeah creating in his game now the issue is that?

Talent wise and health wise he can't do it with enough regularity and effectiveness to be an elite level Straw stirrer. I don't think he's a good puck distributor right there's also that but There's elements of his game that quite frankly lend itself to doing this type of thing more and to be honest, in a game like last night, you almost want people with Heedle's mentality and attacking mindset, even if they're not necessarily executing, just to push.

Instead of what we saw last night, what we saw too many times from the Canucks this year, which was like the number one priority when you got in the offensive zone was to defer to somebody else. You can't have five guys deferring to each other. It doesn't work, right? Now, normally it was four guys deferring to Quinn Hughes.

Yeah. But when he wasn't out there, it was five guys deferring to each other. And you get that sometimes because when you're looking for a goal, oftentimes guys don't wanna be the guy. They're thinking, I'll be on self, like selflessness here, like unselfish,

and I'll give the puck to someone else who might be in a better spot or opportunity. Maybe that's a naive way of thinking of it. Maybe it's fear that this whole thing is predicated on. But like a guy like Heedle, and I do wonder when you're talking about, you know, team identity and mentality and coaching philosophies,

I do wonder if that comes from targeting the right kind of guys in terms of, do they have an attacking mindset and attacking mentality? Because there are always gonna be guys in the NHL that their job is to play it safe and do things that aren't necessarily high risk, high reward, right? And the Canucks had a lot of them at times

on the ice last year, right? There were a lot of play it safe guys. And now does some of that have to do with Rick Taukett style? Absolutely. But at the same time, if you give Taukett players, like for example, and just a loose example, a guy like Hedl, it does open up the possibilities because you know, in a moment or two, that's a player that's going to try and drive the net.

Try and take a guy one on one. Take a one on one is a big thing, right? That's I mean, that's a big thing in the sense of you have to have the confidence to be able to go and do it, knowing that it might end poorly. I you lose the battle, you get stripped of the puck, it's going the other way and you're caught in the offensive zone, those kinds of things.

But also, you have to have the confidence to know that if you do it and it doesn't work out, you kind of have to do it again. Because the part of this is like the continual pressure of attack, right? It's not a one-off. It's not like, well, I tried it once and it didn't work. Like you have to be able to go after guys again and again and again.

And that's the whole one V one battle mentality. Is this not about just going on in one battle? It's putting the defenseman on notice like, hey, I'm going to be coming after you repeatedly tonight. I'm going to try and beat you. You know what? David does brilliantly. Everything. Well, yeah, but He he takes on the defenseman one-on-one for one on two half the time, but then he's able to dish

Yeah, you know it's remark. I actually think you know if there's one thing that Hughes could do more It's find a way to dish the puck. You know when he starts skating downhill? I think too often times he just shot it. Sure. You're actually criticizing Quinn Hughes? Just offering a different option for his game, that's all. I'm just saying that the, like, you know, and maybe- He doesn't trust his teammates. Maybe he doesn't trust his teammates.

Nobody's gonna score, I'm gonna do myself. Honestly. Hey, there is that. Listen, I think it got to that point. Let's have a repeat, he's like to score. I'm going to do it myself. Honestly. Hey, hey, hey. Why is that? Listen, I think it got to that point. Looks over Petey's like, no. I think it got to that point for Hughes. He was like, he was like, I do it myself.

But that's what McDavid is lucky. He's lucky to have a dry saddle where he can dance into the offensive zone and everyone's focused on him because it's like, wow, that guy's so good. And then dry saddle is just hanging out on the goal line. I know it wasn't a McDavid that fed dry saddle for that one timer yesterday, it was Nuge. But having someone that you trust to feed the puck to is huge and I don't think Queen Hughes,

like think about the power play last year. Did he ever have that guy? This is a big thing in the world of international football, the soccer right now, is that because the tactics and the managerial acumen and the formations, I mean, it's so advanced now, is that oftentimes the best way to break something down is to have that singular game breaker

And then you're almost like let's just get him into space and let's see what happens Yeah, I mean you're seeing it at Barca with like La Mena mall Obviously, there's some high-level guys like Vinny and killing him Bop a rail If you go down the list like if you ever watched man city who had a terrible year this year But there were often times where when they were desperate to find a goal is like, just get it out wide to Doku and see if he can see what he does. Just to take a guy one on one because it's speed and it's the

it's the mindset of I'm going to get the ball and I'm going to go after a defender. One V one. It doesn't work out. I'm going to get the ball again and do it again, because you do put a defender under constant pressure. Yeah, it wears them out mentally. It's it's it fries you because I go, here we go again. And it's an interesting way to watch it because for all of these great tactics

and, you know, drawing stuff up on the whiteboard at the end of the day, it's like, let's get our best player in space with either the puck or the ball or whatever, and let's see what he can do. See if he can create. That's why I, uh, you know, Sean from New West, who is starting to get, starting to worry me a little bit with all his texts in hating on Rick Tocket. But it's like, Sean has never suggested something

that a coach could actually do. Like, what would you, so I'm going to throw it out to the listeners. Maybe you got some great ideas. Maybe there's a future assistant coach out there for Adam Foote's staff. Give me specifics on how the Canucks coaching staff can help the Canucks score goals this year.

Just text them in, text them in and don't be a specific isn't more controlled zone entries. Right? Like you, okay, how? Cause one of the reasons that the Kinect struggled with zone entries was they didn't have a lot of, well, in the first half of the season, it was they didn't have the puck movers on the back end.

And then when they fixed that, they lost pretty much everything upfront. And they had not, they didn't have enough speed through the neutral zone where you could reliably control the puck with speed because you need speed to get into the offensive zone with control of the puck. So text in with like ideas or also just text in in general with like, do you think that a coach can truly

impact a team's offense other than, other than just allowing the players to play with more risk and maybe that's something that Rick Tocket should have done. But maybe he looked at the, uh, the composition of his team and said, this is in fact, as we know, this is what he did because he told us he looked at the composition of his team and said, in fact, we know this is what he did because he told us. He looked at the composition of the team and said, this is the best way for us to play and to win. And if I were to say, all right, guys,

start cheating on exits or start, demand everyone up the ice, right? Then I think we'd be in trouble. Because even if you send all your demon up the ice, like you still need to finish those plays and I just don't know if the Canucks had the horses up front to play that style. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Alfred and Brough. Frank. Cera Valley. Frank. Cera Valley. Frank. Frank. 702 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Dang, I didn't time it properly. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com

We are now in hour two of the program Frank Sarvali from Daily Face Off is going to join us in just a moment here To kick off our two hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage If you love giving the banks more of your money Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you visit them online at jason.mortgage We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Our next guest comes courtesy of the Power West Industries hotline. He's also a presentation of angry otter liquor. He is Frank Sarah Valley from Daily Face Off here on the Halford and Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Frank. How are you? Good. How you doing boys? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. As always, we appreciate it. So, the daily face-off at trade board dropped yesterday. There are two Vancouver Canucks on it. At that your Demco comes in at number 18, and Leas Pedersen at number 20.

I do wanna start with Demco, and I know you were on with Sad and Dan yesterday covering some of this material, but for the morning show listeners that might not have heard it, why Demco on the list, one of the three goalies to make the top 20 trade board list. Well,

I'm glad you mentioned three goalies because it's a really thin goalie market this summer and that probably will weigh in or factor into it. Um, look, the premier, and I'm doing air quotes when I say premier, I'm not knocking him at all, but the premier free agent available is Jake Allen. So it's a thin class and usually we have at this time of year, the, you know, annual game of goaltending musical chairs. And that's just, it doesn't seem like that's going to play out.

But at the same time, given that the position is voodoo, I think there's a number of teams that are like, well, let's sit, let's switch it up. Let's see what we can do. So park that off to the side. The other part of this conversation is that the Canucks have a decision to make like with Thatcher Demko being eligible for an extension, where do you view him at this point in time relative to his injury and his ability to get back to the level of being a franchise goalie and and Vezna trophy finalist? Those are real questions and if you are comfortable then the next iteration of that question, next step is what do you pay him?

And are you willing to pay him? Given that you've just made a pretty significant commitment to Kevin Lankton. So is it possible that the Canucks roll into next season with the same two guys in tandem and spend nine and a half million bucks, which is I think relatively reasonable. Yeah, it's possible for sure.

But I think if you are going to have that conversation, it's in your best interest to do it now and maybe get ahead of it and think long-term and then take advantage or capitalize on what might be a really thin goalie market. And this has made all the more intriguing by the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers have been plagued by poor goaltending over the last couple of years,

maybe want to find a solution. And oh, look, talk, it's former head coach in Vancouver. Rick Tauke is now the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Yeah, and I think, look, there's a loyalty and a bond that exists between those two. I think that's fair to say. Um, does that mean that Rick Tocket is going to be pounding the pavement in Philadelphia to try and land him? I don't know.

Um, he would have a real good insight on his injury status as well, having had a front row seat to those conversations. So look, I think there's a lot that's connected to it and the flyers, yes, just happened to be one of those teams that, geez, for the last 30 plus years have struggled to find a quality, consistent goalie. Where would that leave the Canucks if they traded Demko? I think in a position where you find a 1B to go in tandem with Lankton. I think they're in pretty good hands and obviously

they've got cost certainty and that contract is going to look like a real value. The deal that Kevin Lankenen signed in three years is going to be the new two and a half to three million bucks for Agoli. They're just out in front of it and they feel like they've got a really good one to play in tandem with whoever it is. So go out and find that next person and spend a little bit less. Yeah, Artie Shelovs is playing well too in the Calder Cup playoffs, but I just don't know if you want to put him in that position of anointing him the full-time backup. Again, the AHL is a good league, but it's not the NHL and we saw that last season. Frank, I wanted to ask you-

Don't you think there was a little trust that eroded too with Shelob? I think there was a lot of trust. A lot of trust that eroded with him, yeah. He was borderline unplayable at the beginning of the year. I mean, and we hated saying it because it was a good story in the postseason last year. And to be fair, I think he was placed in a very tough position this year, where he was asked to do things in the regular season that he hadn't done before. But yeah, trust absolutely eroded.

I think you're pretty spot on there. Okay. Frank, have you heard anything on the Canucks coaching staff? Adam Foote is the head coach, but he needs to hire a few new assistants. And we saw Brad Shaw going to New Jersey the other day. Any updates on that?

Yeah. And Mike Volucci going to Chicago as well, I just mentioned joining Jeff Laschow's staff as an assistant. I actually think, and not confirmed, so I mean, I'm not totally comfortable running with it, but I think Voluchi had a conversation with the Canucks potentially about their head coaching opening. And so there's a connection going back to Pittsburgh, of course. But look, it's amazing how quickly things are moving on the assistant coach side

because there's some significant work to be done there and these guys are being plucked off the board pretty quickly. So I think when you see the impact that foot had on talk at staff, what that did is drive home the point that it really matters who you surround yourself with. It's not just being a good head coach or just having those chops. It's also about having the proper support and sounding board. And, and I've loved watching or reading the comments from pocket in Philadelphia about what he's looking for with his staff as he's also going through the same process and

probably the same thing that's going on at the head coaching level where you're seeing a bunch of names that are in the mix for the same jobs. I'm sure that part is also playing out on the assistant coach side and there's a couple really good ones available like speaking of Kevin Dean, who coached their defense is like lights out good. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that they parted ways as Blashill is filling out his staff. He's going to get snapped up in short order. There's a whole list of those guys that are in the mix. One name that caught my eye on your trade board is Eric Carlson.

Do you think the Penguins will be able to move him this off season? I think it's going to be really difficult, but I think they're going to try. I think they're in a spot where they want to try and turn this over. That 10 million bucks for each of the next two years is pretty onerous.

And it's not even that Carlson had a bad season. I think it's all about fit. And I think the last thing that the Pittsburgh Penguins needed as a flow team that struggles at times to defend was their Carlson. And so is there a team out there that's looking for a right shot, power play quarterback that Pittsburgh may be able to retain a bit and get somewhat decent value for? I mean, still 53 points on the backend last year. And then he looked really good at four nations and turn back the clock.

Is there a way to saw off what seems to be a pretty significant mistake? I mean, could you imagine if the penguins didn't make the deal and Sam Dickinson is a guy joining their lineup next season on the back end? Like that's your, that's your next, I'm putting some significant weight on his shoulders here, but that's your next, I'm putting some significant weight on his shoulders here, but that's your next LaTang, that's your next Carlson. And now he's in San Jose. Um, who's the best center on your, your trade board? That's I know Elias Pedersen is on, is on the list,

but the Canucks are looking for center along with pretty much every, every other team in the NHL it seems. And I think that's going to be the one position that's going to be really tough for teams to track down either through free agency or trades this off season. Who's the best center on your list? I mean, it kind of depends on how you view it. Like, are we talking center for right now?

What specific role are you? I mean, like if you're talking best pure center, like highest upside, I mean, it's still definitely Elias Pedersen. But outside of him, probably a safe bet to say Marco Rossi at number three. I mean, 60 points last year, a guy that's arrived at this crossroads where,

okay, so why would the wild, a team that struggles a little bit with center depth, why would they be willing to move on from Marco Rossi? They have to pay him. And I haven't gotten a sense, I think Rossi himself in his sort of cryptic end of season news conference probably has gotten a sense. I think Rossi himself in his sort of cryptic end of season news conference probably has gotten a sense that there's going to be some pushback on trying to get a deal done. It's not to say that it won't

happen it's just that I think he's very much available and then you've got this interesting you know situation in Boston like what are they doing next? Pavel Zakka talked about this with Sat last night. Like he's a guy who probably fits a bit of a mold of what the Canucks are looking for. Morgan Geeky, um, he had a great year. So like, look, there's, there's some options. They're not all necessarily ideal for different reasons, but, um, there's at least some targets to shoot for.

What happened with Rossi in Minnesota, down the stretch and into the playoffs, where he started to get deployed as a four seed? Because this was a guy that played all 82 games this year. He had 24 goals, he had 60 points, and he produced a pretty decent clip, but it really fell off a cliff in the postseason. Well, I think that goes back to the, you know, sort of idea or germination of why wouldn't you

sign a 23 year old center that has 60 points. Yeah. Think about the way that the wild have built their team. Think about the way that Bill Garen built Team USA at Four Nations. Big, heavy, difficult to play against a pain in the arse, Joel Eriksen X. Yeah. That's not Marco Rossi. And so any guy, like it's almost, I'll give you a funny inside baseball. Okay. Um, when the wild made a trade at the deadline, I think it was the night before, you know, I'm always on the hunt for like information and trying to

stuff out a trade, right? And so I'm asking around and it was like, Oh, the wild are making a trade with the Bruins. And I was like, Oh, I don't even need to think about it. The guy that they're targeting is Justin Brezzo. Like, you know, everyone's got a type for me. It's it's blondes with big racks for Bill Guerin. It's big, heavy, difficult to play against players. That's that's it.

So, I mean, it becomes one of those things where you understand what that type is and then you also understand what doesn't fit the type. Do you think there's gonna be a return? Yeah, not even a reaction? Wow. No, no, no, no, no. Do you think there's gonna be a return

to teams chasing size again? Not that they really stopped. Everyone was still into big players that can play, but there was this opening for smaller players in the league. I'm not saying that opening has closed, but you watch the Florida Panthers play and you're talking about the Minnesota Wild chasing size. The one thing I look at, the Canucks, and people suggest Marco Rossi or other skilled but smaller players, and I'm like, look at what their top six is composed of right now.

There isn't a lot of big, tough dudes there, And I don't know if you can win in the playoffs right now because I don't know if with smaller teams, because man, have you been watching the playoffs? It is vicious out there. Well, it's two things. It's a blend of size, but also how you use your size. I think Connor Garland is a great example of that. He's obviously tiny, but he doesn't play tiny.

And I think one of the real lessons as we've seen a crack back on how teams are assembled and find success in the playoffs is you can get by with smaller guys that are truly impact pieces, but they have to be limited in number and scope. You can't have five of them, but you can have two for sure. And so I think that's part of where the balance comes in is keeping your eyes open to finding those types of players and taking a chance on them that maybe turn out to be difference makers for you,

even though they don't have the size, but then surrounding those guys with the proper support in place that have the size. I mean, look at Florida. Like Florida is a textbook, you know, how to win in the NHL team and they're ferocious to your point. I was saying the other day that I wonder if the NHL is going to have to start cracking down on

hitting from behind because it seems to be just like it's legal now to hit from behind. And I know a lot of the times the players are turning their backs on players, but I wonder if we're going to go through another, I mean, this happened years ago when they had to crack down on hitting from behind both at the NHL level, but also like at the minor level and the kids.

The youth level, I mean, you're seeing like, the guys wearing the stop signs on their jerseys. Yeah, and I mentioned that. Like, Bouchard got hit from behind yesterday and his head rattled off the glass, and it's kind of like, yeah, that happens now. And I just wonder, you know, anyway, it gets me back to my point, like big boy hockey is very much back now.

Yeah, it is. But I think, again, anyone purely scouting with a tape measure is going to miss out on some really good players. Oh, a hundred percent. You need to have the proper blend. But when you look at the Canucks top six forward group, I mean, what do you see there? You're right. I think they need that influx of that.

I think there's a lot of teams that are in that same conversation. Um, like I was listening to Jeff Blaschel yesterday talk about potential superstars at every position in Chicago. And I'm like, yeah, but too easy of a team to play against because they don't have any size upfront and they don't have any heft. And I think there's, you know, there's a lot of teams that I think about like

that, that seem to perennially fall short of where they want to get to because they don't have that nice mix. And I think the cadets are in that conversation. Speaking of Jeff Blaschel, we talked about this yesterday and then I saw your hit on CHSN Chicago talking about the hire of Jeff Blaschel Chicago, and you said they now have a coach who is undoubtedly gonna be better in the second term. Why do you have so much confidence in Jeff Blashill in the second gig in Chicago?

Because I think, think about how you do your job and think about how I do my job. I'm a lot better than I was three years ago or five years ago. And, um, you know, same thing with you guys, more reps, more time, more experience. And I think when you take a step back, here's the fun thing about Jeff Blasho, 51 years old. He's one at other levels, gets a seven year run as an NHL head coach and people.

I've seen a ton of screenshots of, Hey, look at this guy's record. Not very good at the NHL level. Well, like context matters. They, they made the playoffs his first year and have embarked on a re a full scale rebuild that they're still not out of yet. And he's been gone for three full seasons. That matters. Then go back and look at Bruce Cassidy's first run as head coach, Mike Sullivan's first run as head coach and how long it took those guys to get back to the NHL head coaching position and how much success that they've had since I'm not saying that that's what Jeff Blaschel

definitely gonna do in Chicago, but I think trying to mark these guys and say, not any good, let's throw them in the dumpster and never come back again, I think it's crazy. He had seven years and then spent three on a staff with John Cooper, also undoubtedly one of the best coaches in the league. You don't think taking all those different experiences and smashing them

together, that he's going to come into it with a different viewpoint and approach. And he's got presence. You watch that press conference and you go, that's a guy who commands the room. You know, half of the battle in today's NHL, you might have jibber jabber coming out of your mouth that makes zero sense, but if it's coming out of Rick Hawkins mouth, people are listening cause he's got presence. If it's coming out of Jeff Blasho's mouth,

they're listening cause he's got presence. That's a huge part of it. Okay, before we let you go, I want to finish up on the coaching front. So rapid fire with these final three. First question, is Marco Sturm indeed the clubhouse leader to take the Boston Bruins vacant head coaching gig. I've seen the reporting I've asked the question and I've been told,

uh, not no, but definitely not yet. So I don't know what to say. I, I can only do with what I've got in front of me and I have zero indication at this point in time that Marco's term is going to be the next head coach of the Bruins. He's not going to be just saying, I don't have any indication that he is two more to go Pittsburgh. What's the latest there? Um, just really beginning to ramp up their search with Kyle Dubas back from Worlds.

They had interviews, I think some people went to Sweden, I think he had some Zoom conversations, and that's picking up in full steam. And finally, one I haven't thought about in a while now, the Seattle Kraken still needs a head coach. I was surprised you didn't ask me about the Islanders because this seemingly is a big week for Matthew Darsh and Patrick Watt Well now I have a yeah the crack in there are They're cracking away at trying to get someone in place

I Don't have Really a sneaking suspicion on who they're talking to but it's I know that The number of people that they've been talking to has been pretty significant volume. Just like Boston's interviewed somewhere between 14 and 16 guys, crazy number. Okay. Well give us what you got on the Islanders then before we let you go. Yeah. Well, look, I think everyone's really curious to see how this turns out. Part of it is Patrick was and very critical of his manager, and that's a Hall of Famer and Lou Lamarello.

What does that mean for a first-time head coach? And then the next thing is, or first-time general manager at the post, what does that mean for this job and their relation? Do they have a prior relationship to Quebecois natives, like two French speakers? Like usually those guys tend to stick together and have a good working relationship. Is that part of the

plan or is this, you know, Matthew Dar's coming in and making a change? Frank, this was great, man. We covered a lot of ground here. Thanks as always for doing this. We appreciate it. Enjoy the games the rest of this week. We'll do this again next week. Sounds good. Have a good one. See you guys. Yeah. Thanks Frank. We appreciate that's Frank So rally our NHL insider from daily face-off here on the Halford and Brough show on sportsnet 650 You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough